42 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
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Foreman, AR
Foreman, Arkansas, owes its existence to the railroad, a lifeline that carved its way across the flat landscape, establishing the town in 1899 and naming it for a railroad foreman. At 351 feet above sea level, the land…
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Winthrop, AR
· 9.4 mi · Local history
Winthrop, Arkansas, owes its existence to the railroads that crisscrossed the southwest corner of the state in the late 19th century. Before it was named for a railroad official in 1880 and incorporated a decade later,…
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Harvey C. Sanders, C. S. A.
· 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
(1837 - 1925) Native of Kentucky. In Civil War, fought at Shiloh, Chickamauga and other battles. After being wounded twice, became a guard at Confederate White House. When Richmond fell on April 3, 1865, was placed in…
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Site of the Texas Home of Richard Ellis
· 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
A Virginian by birth and education - Jurist and statesman of Alabama, 1813-1825 - Came to Texas, 1825 - President of the Constitutional Convention, March 1836, and member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas - Born…
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Richmond, AR
· 12.3 mi
Richmond, Arkansas, isn't a place that shouts from the rooftops, but it holds its history close. The land, slightly elevated above the waters of Millwood Lake, whispers of cotton fields and hard work. The arrival of the…
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Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church
· 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
Blacks in the area north of New Boston have been served by this church since its organization in Feb. 1872 by the Rev. Forrest Hooks, the first pastor for the 14 charter members. According to oral histories, the…
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Wilton station (Arkansas)
· 14.3 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Ever wonder what it was like when railroads ruled transportation? This little depot in Wilton is a real survivor from that era. Built around 1893, this is the only train station still standing that was built by the…
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Ashdown, AR
· 15.3 mi · Local history
Ashdown, Arkansas, owes its existence to the iron horse. Carved from the Red River plains in the late 19th century, its establishment as a town directly correlates with the expansion of the railroad. Named for a…
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Stewart, Paul
· 17.1 mi · Eohc
Right here in McCurtain County, you're passing through the area where Paul Stewart built a remarkable life. Born in Arkansas in 1892, Stewart moved to Indian Territory as a boy. By age thirteen, he was in the mercantile…
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Haworth
· 17.1 mi · Eohc
You're driving through Haworth, Oklahoma, a town that owes its existence to a railroad and a booming timber industry. Originally surveyed as Harrington in 1902 by the Choctaw Townsite Commission, its development really…
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Hubbard Home
· 17.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hubbard Home in New Boston, built in 1904 for Robt. M. Hubbard. Look for its distinctive Victorian styling and eight irregular gables, plus leaded glass in the bay window. This house welcomed…
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Jones, Jas. W. and Laura Williams
· 18.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through New Boston, and you might catch a glimpse of a home that brought a little bit of North Carolina style all the way to Bowie County. Built in 1883 by Jas. W. and Laura Williams Jones, this house…
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New Boston, TX
· 18.1 mi
New Boston sits nestled in Bowie County, surrounded by those towering pines that define this part of Texas. It’s a place where Friday night lights shine bright, thanks to a long tradition of winning football at New…
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McDuffie, Dan LaFayette
· 18.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bowie County, Texas, where Dan LaFayette McDuffie made his name. Born in Arkansas in 1883, McDuffie's family moved here when he was just a boy. He started in law enforcement young, becoming a…
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Old Boston, TX
· 18.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bowie County, not far from New Boston. Right here, you're passing through the site of Old Boston. Settled in the early 1830s and named for its first store owner, W. J. Boston, this was the county…
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Boston, TX
· 18.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bowie County, and right here is the story of how Boston got its name... and its location. Back in the 1880s, the county seat was in dispute. Citizens in the western part of the county wanted the…
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New Boston, TX
· 18.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through New Boston, a town born from a shrewd business move. Back in 1876, the original Boston was four miles from the new railroad line. Realizing their town would fade, businessmen convinced the…
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Fulbright, Rufus Clarence
· 18.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, not far from where Rufus Clarence Fulbright got his start in New Boston. Born in 1881, Fulbright became a titan of transportation law, especially during the 1920s and 30s when the…
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New Boston
· 18.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through New Boston, a town born from the railroad. Back in the 1870s, when the Texas & Pacific Railroad pushed across Bowie County, it created a brand new shipping point. This new spot, platted in 1876,…
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Hooks, TX
· 18.4 mi
Hooks, Texas, might seem like just another quiet spot in Bowie County, but it's got a story to tell, and more than a few interesting characters have walked these streets. You can feel it in the air – a kind of…
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Hooks, Robert Warren
· 18.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bowie County, near the town of Hooks, which owes its name to a prominent planter family. Robert Warren Hooks, born in Alabama in 1836, moved with his family to this area around 1848. His father…
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Hooks, TX
· 18.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving west of Texarkana, and right here is Hooks, Texas. This community started way back in the late 1830s, growing up around the plantation of Warren Hooks. For decades, it was a quiet spot, gaining a post…
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Hooks, Warren H.
· 18.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Hooks, Texas, a town named after a man who became one of Northeast Texas's largest landowners. Warren Hooks arrived from Alabama in the late 1840s, eventually owning over 13,000 acres and a…
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Hooks
· 18.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hooks, Texas, a town that owes its name to Warren Hooks, who established a supply center here on his plantation way back in 1848. For decades, farming was the name of the game, with cotton and…
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Blocker, Dan
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
Dan Blocker, television actor, was born on December 10, 1928, in DeKalb, Texas, the son of Ora Shack and Mary (Davis) Blocker. His delayed birth certificate, filed by a doctor on March 22, 1929, recorded his name as…
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Dekalb, TX
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
DeKalb is on the Missouri Pacific Railroad and U.S. Highway 82 twelve miles northwest of New Boston in western Bowie County. It was one of the earliest settlements in the county. According to some county histories a…
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Ellis, Richard
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
Richard Ellis, planter, jurist, and legislator, son of Ambrose and Cecilia (Stokes) Ellis, was born in the "Tidewater Section" (probably Lunenburg County) of Virginia, on February 14, 1781. After a common-school…
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Runnels, Hardin Richard
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Northeast Texas, not far from where Hardin Runnels made his mark. He was a Texas legislator and governor, but his claim to fame? He's the only person in history to ever defeat Sam Houston in an…
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Dalby Springs
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bowie County, not far from DeKalb. Right here, you're passing the area known as Dalby Springs. This spot has been a draw for thousands of years, first for prehistoric peoples, then for the Caddo…
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La Harpe, Jean Baptiste Bénard de
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Northeast Texas, near Bowie County, where French explorer Jean Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe established Fort Saint Louis de los Cadodaquious in 1719. He was part of France's push to settle…
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Le Poste des Cadodaquious
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bowie County, not far from Texarkana, and you're passing near the site of Le Poste des Cadodaquious. Founded in 1719 by Bénard de La Harpe, this small French fort was built on the Red River, right…
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Spanish Bluff
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bowie County, not far from New Boston, and you're passing a place that's been a landmark for centuries: Spanish Bluff. This imposing 100-foot bluff along the Red River was known to Native…
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Bowie County
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bowie County, a place with a history of changing county seats! The original county, established in 1840 and named for James Bowie, was much larger. DeKalb was briefly the temporary county seat…
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Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Bowie County, Texas, near the Red River. Back in 1824, this was the very first stopping point for Collin McKinney and his followers, pioneers of the Christian Church, also known as the…
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Estes, William E.
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bowie County, Texas, not far from where Dalby Springs once thrived. In 1860, William E. Estes, a Confederate cavalry officer and hotel proprietor, opened the Dalby Springs Hotel. He aimed to…
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Hatchel-Mitchell Site
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Texarkana, right through land that was once home to a major Caddoan settlement. This Hatchel-Mitchell site, stretching over what is now Bowie County, was a bustling community for centuries, possibly…
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Porter, William Napoleon
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the Red River District of Texas, an area that became Bowie County back in 1840. Right here, William Napoleon Porter was elected to represent this brand-new county in the Sixth…
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Methodist Protestant Church
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Bowie County, and right here is where a unique chapter of Texas Methodism unfolded. In 1830, a group broke away from the main Methodist church, forming the Methodist Protestant Church.…
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Nasoni Indians
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now northeastern Texas, a land once home to the Nasoni Indians. By the early 1700s, this Caddoan tribe had split into two groups: the Upper Nasoni, living near the Red River in present-day…
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Runnels, Howell Washington
· 19.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bowie County, not far from Boston, where Howell Washington Runnels made his home. He wasn't just any farmer; Runnels was a state legislator, serving in both the Sixth and Seventh Texas…
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De Kalb
· 19.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through DeKalb, a town named for a hero of the American Revolution, Johann de Kalb. The suggestion to name it came in 1836 from none other than David Crockett himself, who was passing through on his way…
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First United Methodist Church of DeKalb
· 19.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through DeKalb, where Methodism has deep roots, stretching back to 1815. That's when circuit rider William Stevenson began preaching here, even though Protestant services were illegal in Spanish Texas!…